Forums

If the City of Terrace had a budget-season chorus line, it would be, “We wish there was more money to go around.”

Take community grants, which are scrupulously inspected yearly prior to the purse being closed with some groups left wanting.

Still, organizations, community groups, volunteers and so on, approach council in the post-budget season asking for financial boosts.

But there’s a limited honey pot from which to draw.

The account for discretionary spending on things such as community requests after budget season holds $11,200 in it.

Of that amount, the city plans to spend $7,000 on a forum it is hosting this fall, leaving $4,200 remaining with which council can help community groups in need and pay for unexpected expenses, like travel.

But recently, it came to light that the city had $15,000 left over from a municipal training workshop that was held last November — when it decided to spend $10,000 of that cash on nine touch-screen tablets.

As the money was collected through industry sponsors and forum fees charged, the city’s rationale for spending the money is there was no cost to taxpayers for the tablets.

But there is. Taxpayers are covering the coming city-hosted forum. Money left over from one event could go towards paying for the next.

If it did, more would be left for community groups, which make this city a more vibrant place to live.

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